— I’m proud of Fall River. We’ve got a shortfall of millions and millions of dollars. You think they can come up that short in Dighton? Hell no! You wanna come up that short, you’ve gotta be a city.

Before you condemn the city of Fall River for its big financial shortfall, consider how many area towns are also in the hole. It’s not just us. One of the great weaknesses of political debate in Fall River is the inability to consider that anything similar might be happening anywhere else in the world.

— The trouble in city finances and the perceived weakness among the incumbents may bring out some unusual candidates next election. Disaster can be encouraging to the normally hopeless.

— I remember the squeals of indignation when the city lost finance guy Shawn Cadime. Lemme ask you, wasn’t Cadime in charge when the city’s finances started to go south? Is his leaving still a “tragedy” for Fall River?

— I find it odd that “community leaders,” most of them self-appointed, are hollering about a casino near a school. No one seems to mind that the casino will also be located very close to a housing project. What, the kids who live in the project don’t count?

— One thing is certain and that is that government looks sleazier the deeper it gets into the gambling business. Fixing odds and manipulating payouts are things that seem beneath the dignity of marble statehouses and phrases like, “Great and General Court.”

— If, instead of a casino, a manufacturing company wanted to open up in Fall River, offering a couple hundred $9-an-hour jobs and an average temperature of 105 on the factory floor, the city would give them a tax break.

— I haven’t heard any Fall River strip joint news for a while.

— Potholes. The guys who fill ’em work hard at it and, though people will disagree, the streets seem just a little better in the last couple weeks.

— The idea of ambulances carrying Narcan, a drug used to treat heroin overdoses, provokes two contrary feelings in most law-abiding citizens.

The first is, “Good. Maybe some addict’ll get a second chance at life, maybe straighten out.”

The second is “Great, they bring the guy back to life so he can break into my house next week.”

— This isn’t a food column but I can’t not mention the Peep doughnut at Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s a doughnut with a marshmallow Peep on top. I love doughnuts and I love Peeps, so it’s a good spring at my desk.

Page 2 of 2 - — Thursday night, I ate at Roger’s, the hot-dog joint/restaurant on Brightman Street. They’ve got an open-faced steak sandwich on the menu, that being a piece of steak on a piece of toast.

The open faced steak sandwich was a feature of diner dining in my youth and it’s disappeared from a lot of menus over the years. I was happy to find it again.

When I was maybe 10 years old, my pop would take me to a diner to eat and I’d always get the open-faced steak sandwich.